Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes

Geez, open the triage, we might not have any beds open in our Fantasy Basketball Infirmary after this weekend! Way to sully the excitement of players debuting on new teams…

I guess an injury that made a lot of people surly is a year with no more Sully. Stress reactions have been claiming lots of games lately, and Jared Sullinger will be shut down for the year with lingering issues in his foot. I blame Brad Stevens! Gives me stress reactions…

The Celtics have been anything but consistent with rotations, but Kelly Olynyk should be primed for a little consistency whence he’s back from his kankle. Right now it’s Tyler Zeller manning the 5 with Brandon Bass at the 4, and those three should split most of the big man minutes. Zeller’s nice %s with the big man stats can be usable on a lot of teams and Bass, who went 15/5/1/0/2 on 7-11 FG in 40 minutes last night always seems to be underrated. Olynyk of Nazareth is the guy to own, but he’s not miles ahead of the other two. I wouldn’t mind a spec add for any of the bunch, but not dropping anyone of too much value. Here’s what else went down over an injury-plagued weekend of fantasy basketball action:

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The all-star break has come and gone. For DFS purposes it seemed like an eternity. For me it was a nice break to step away and recharge batteries. Thursday was the NBA trade deadline and we seen a ton of movement. 39 players were traded. Now I’m not going to sit here and tell you who the winners and losers were cause I could care less. I will tell you it opens up opportunity for a lot of players for DFS and also takes the value away from a few players. When you are building your lineups make sure these players that were involved in a trade are playing for their new teams. This process can take a few days because of the amount of trades at one time and the players have to pass physicals. On Saturday we a small 5-game slate so let’s get on with it:

Well, it finally happened. The New York Knicks shut down Carmelo Anthony for the season. The news isn’t surprising, especially after he went 6-20 in the All-Star Game on Sunday night. The East players tried their best to get Anthony the ball, but it was clear something was amiss with his jump shot.

On Thursday, Anthony had successful surgery to repair his patella tendon in his left knee. The initial recovery time is around 4-to-6 months, but more will be known about his timeline in the days after the surgery. He’s safe to drop in all redraft leagues.

As mentioned in previous injury posts, Tim Hardaway, Jr. and Langston Galloway become the primary beneficiaries on offense. Someone will have to take the shots that Anthony was accustomed to taking. When starting this season, Hardaway has averaged 14.6 ppg and 2.1 3PTM, while Galloway has averaged 11.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg, and 3.0 apg. Readily available on the waiver wire (22% for Hardaway and 24% for Galloway in Yahoo leagues), these guys can become useful pickups for the playoff run.

And off the emotional roller coaster of those deadline deals, the NBA is finally back after a week away. I certainly need to consult my physician since it’s definitely lasting more than 4 hours… Especially after seeing Serge Ibaka pull a Goro right out of the 2nd-half gate! Twas an empty big man line, but 21/22/0/0/0 is a nice way to start a shortened week! Hit 8-12 from the field and 5-6 FT which twill get it done. Serge didn’t take a trey, and while he hit a few jumpers, look how much closer to the hoop his shot chart was:

With Enes Kanter on his way to OKC to bring his own brand of mid-rangeness, I think Ibaka can look forward to a nice boost in FG%. Sure it may cost him a trey here and there, but Serge should still seek shots from the seashore. And while Kanter had his share of nice rebounding games with the Jazz, putting him out there for his mid-range O is going to help Serge’s post presence. I really like the move for Ibaka’s value. Here’s what else went down last night in our return to NBA action:

[We’ve got the Trade Deadline Podcast up! Slim and I react to all this hooblah as this post continues to be updated – you can find the Pod the post below this one as well as that link.]

Razzball Nation!

The Trade Deadline is nigh, which is to say, soon. Can I trade the start of this open with a different one…? “Did you hear the one about how the Hawks got nothing for the broke ass of Josh Smith last trade deadline?!” Imagine the Hawks with a lottery pick as well… I guess as fortune-tellers, they knew they didn’t need anything for Smoove!

The 2015 NBA Trade Deadline will pass at 3:00 PM EST, and up until the closing moments, I’ll be updating this post as each trade moves across my virtual news desk. Fantasy spins galore! That’s the younger sister of Pussy Galore… So be sure to constantly ping that refresh like Goldfinger on Kitco! Here’s what’s gone down so far:

Basketball is back baby! The NBA season returns from the All-Star Break tonight after four-and-a-half months off… Maybe hyperbolic, but certainly feels that way!

And right as games start, we’ve got the NBA Trade Deadline passing this afternoon at 3:00 PM EST. That was fast! We’ve got a big day of trade analysis, with a live post that will go up around 1:00 PM-ish EST and get frequently updated to track all of the last-minute trades as they go down, then a slightly later podcast record time with our special edition Trade Deadline Razzball Basketball Podcast up sometime around 4:00-4:30 PM EST. It’s all hoops all afternoon!

With these big changes about to ripple through the fantasy hoops landscape, the biggest news from over the break is probably the most anti-climatic – Carmelo Anthony has been officially shutdown. “3P0 – Shut down all the garbage smashers on the detention level!” “No! Shut them ALL down, hurry!” Pretty apt to The Poppycockers shituation, amiright?! We’ve known Melo was about to be Melba Toast sometime around the break, and now the swift gavel of realism has hit (huh? weird metaphor day! I’m rusty OK?!). Langston Galloway, who has probably been picked up in most leagues (and subsequently dropped in some after struggling) should likely be scooped up. He’s not going to do anything too special, but his career-high in shots (19) was in a Melo-less game and should give you some low-TO guard stats. Tim Hardaway Jr. also gets a bit of a boost, but he does absolutely nothing beyond score and trey. Would be a nice, high-minute ThrAGNOF! But those ain’t got no face… So I’m not married to Timmy J at all even if he starts hot with Melo now gone. Here’s what else has gone down since we left for the break:

The All-Star weekend begins on Friday, giving most of the league some time off before the final stretch of the season. After the break, there are only four weeks left in the regular season for standard leagues. That’s not a lot of time to wait for guys to return from injuries. Owners will have to make hard decisions on whether to keep their injured stars or let them loose. More should be known after the All-Star break about the severity of many of these recent injuries, so hold on until then.

Blake Griffin underwent surgery on Monday to remove a staph infection in his right elbow. Prior to surgery, Griffin was expected to miss anywhere from 2-to-6 weeks. Griffin will be reevaluated in three weeks, which should help clarify when owners can expect to have Griffin back. Since Griffin is a top talent and there isn’t much clarity on his timeline, owners should hold onto Griffin for the time being.

With Griffin out, DeAndre Jordan and Spencer Hawes become the biggest benefactors. Jordan has put up back-to-back 20/20 games and looks like he’ll grab every rebound that Griffin used to get.

While Jordan is universally owned, Hawes becomes a top waiver wire pickup. In the three games that Griffin has missed, Hawes has averaged 11.0 ppg and 1.7 rpg. The numbers have been underwhelming so far, but Hawes has shown that he can fill up the box score when given starters’ minutes in the past. Last year as a starter, he averaged 13.2 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.2 bpg, and 1.6 3PTM. He probably won’t approach those numbers, but I expect Hawes to be useful for owners for as long as Griffin is out.

Long time readers will know that for the past year-and-a-half I’ve been a big Snell fan, and he’s finally flourishing in huge minutes with a 22/2/1/3/0 line hitting 9-11 FG, 4-6 FT, and all with no TO. The anti-LeBron! Poor ol’ king James didn’t meet a turnover at the Chicago hotel continental breakfast he didn’t like, going 31/5/4/0/0 with 8 giveaways. Snell was D-ing up BronBron all game, and ended up with a +29 to LeBron’s -27! Bron was like, “Ohhhhh what’s that Snell?!” Tony has been on fire the past 4 games, hitting 28-41 including 15-25 from deep. And he flashed the full bag of tricks on the Cavs bag of bones slamming a couple early, hitting a floater late, sandwiched with some Kyle Korver-esque 3PT shooting. I don’t think there’s much we can do about it though in 10 or 12ers with Jimmy Butler probably back after the break, Kirk Hinrich still there to fill some empty minutes, and Mike Dunleavy side-cocking some treys. But in deeper leagues or dynasties, I think Snell could really turn into something and I have for a long while now. Here’s what else went down in our final first half game of the NBA season:

Well Ello there, Poppet! Bootstraps Bill Turner pulled a scoop and squat shot with under a second left to pull off the upset of the century…. It’s only been 15 years this century, it could be true!

Evan Turner put together a solid 12/7/9/1/0 line hitting 4-11 from the field and all 4 freebies with only 2 TO. Ending the first half on a high note! The move back to his more natural SF spot is finally paying off, as he’s averaging at least 6/6/6 (THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST!) the past 4 games. The FG% is terrible, but I guess I have to believe a little in the out-of-position dimes. The greatest trick Miss Turner ever played was convincing me he wasn’t fantasy usable! Well, he still isn’t ever going to be a stalwart on 10 or 12 team squads due to the low %s, TOs, and absence of 3s, but a lot of teams could use his popcorn stats for their build. He’s like Lance Stephenson, but actually worth owning! At least for now, if he sticks with Boston until the end of the year… Here’s what else went down in our last busy slate of NBA games before the All-Star Break:

It’s always nice to see the deep league guys you love turn into Mr. Planters and go nuts!

After 22 minutes, many of which trying to play through it, Jimmy Butler finally waved the white flag and checked out with a shoulder injury. He first hurt it last Sunday, and that black tape stuff (that I still don’t completely understand how it works) didn’t keep Buckets’ shoulder together. Maybe the black tape is more a statement. Like, “Yeah brah, I got a jacked up shoulder but I’m still gonna go ham!” Either way, it opened up some huge run for Tony Snell, playing 41 minutes. And they were 41 heat check minutes! Made his first 6 from the field including 4 treys, ending up with a career-high 24 points in a 9-11 FG (4-6 3PTM 2-2 FT) 24/2/2/1/0 line with no TO. Snell going full Mr. Planters! Even with Mike Dunleavy returning after nearly a month-and-a-half off, you can’t suppress the sense of Snell! I keed of course, this is an anomaly type of game, but Butler could easily get tomorrow night off against the Cavs to rest that shoulder through the ASB making Snell a very interesting end-of-the-short-week streamer (only the one game Thursday night). Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy NBA action: